Amazon wants to add an awesome new feature to noise canceling headphones

Amazon might be working on a
system for noise-canceling headphones that would allow them to
suspend their noise cancellation effect upon hearing select
keywords.

At least, that much is suggested
by apatentawarded to the ecommerce giant on
July 19, andspotted by
CNNearlier this week.
Amazon first filed for the patent, titled “Suspending noise
cancellation using keyword spotting,” in July 2014.

USPTO

This is your obligatory reminder that a company’s patent
applications mean very little for its product roadmap. Amazon
might deploy this sort of tech in a few years, or it might never
see the light of day. It’s a patent — nothing more, nothing less.

That said, Amazon at least has
amodicumof interest in the idea, and the
idea itself is interesting. The patent’s claims describe a
solution in which a noise-canceling device’s microphones could
use a “keyword spotting unit” to listen for a predetermined
sound, temporarily cancel the noise cancellation upon hearing
that sound, then restart the noise cancellation
again.

The claims makes specific mention
of the device comprising “one of a noise-canceling headphone, a
noise-canceling earbud, or a portable noise-canceling apparatus.”
They also note a way of associating a predetermined keyword with
a person.

The patent’s background
description gets at why this might be useful. It notes how
noise-canceling headphones tend to isolate users from their
environments, making it so “including the operator in a
discussion with another party or otherwise attracting the
operator’s attention can be difficult or otherwise
convenient.”

What all this suggests is a
future where someone could shout your name (or other phrases) and
not be totally ignored while you’re wearing your noise-canceling
cans. This might make things safer, too — it probably wouldn’t
hurt to hear someone yelling the next time you’re head-down and
unwittingly walking into traffic.

The patent lists Mark Rafn and
Benjamin Scott as its inventors. Both are currently software
engineers for Amazon, according to their
respective LinkedInprofiles, but
it’s worth noting that the latter specifically lists “Alexa
Information” in his title. If this solution ever comes to pass,
you’d think it’d make easier to chat with your
Echowithout removing
your headphones.

Amazon currently sells a headphones for cheap through AmazonBasics, which effectively serves as its shop’s
store brand. It also makes a pair of basic earbuds. It does not have a
noise-cancelling model at the moment.

It’s also worth remembering that
headphones in general appear to be moving toward
digital connections, such as USB Type-C and Apple’s
Lightning. One of the purported
benefits of that shiftis an ability to give “normal” headphones
noise-cancelling functionality, which would feasibly make the
concept a little more ubiquitous.

Still, noise-cancelling
headphones are by nature a niche product — they require
additional power (either through a battery or, eventually, your
phone), tend to degrade sound quality, and can’t
cancel everything. Even Bose’s QuietComfort
canslet
higher-pitched tones through. A tight-fitting pair of earphones
still block out enough sounds for most people.